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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Today's #flashfictions The Purpose Of Rovers

Jessica will be coming over today, and that will be quite fun. Also
I found the meaning of life, it's behind the ketchup in the fridge.
Anyway onto the flash fiction!

The Purpose Of Rovers

As the years go by humanity keeps sending rovers to Mars. One created
by multiple nations space programs working together moved along the
surface of the planet. People named it Contact since its
sophisticated equipment, the best the decade two thousand fifty
could offer, more advanced than any before would certainly discover
life. Strong armor, internal and external sensors and cameras, large
treads on its bottom with the ability to put out small arms to push
itself upright if it falls. It could withstand all the harsh
elements of Mars, move at large speeds and have enough battery life
to last one hundred years.

It took a year of roaming and analyzing the planet but eventually
Contact saw something approaching it on the horizon. The news of
something moving towards became viral and everyone tuned in within
minutes. First came the people actually working at the space
programs and then common populace. People tried to keep the thing on
the horizon as under-the-wraps classified information. But it
leaked, and as soon as it did the space programs had no choice but
to run with it.

The rover didn't speed towards the thing on the horizon. If it was
some sort of alien creature they didn't want to spook it. Contact
moved slowly, nearly at a crawl. One of the lead engineers of the
Contact rover Clarice Oliver moved her eyes between the camera feed
of the thing on the horizon and the readings of the sensors of the
rover.

She squinted at the camera feed. Then she turned to her colleagues.
“Isn't Contact the only rover on Mars right now?”

“Yes,” one of them answered. “It's the only active rover that
I remember.”

Clarice saw the shape in the horizon becoming vaguely square when
she asked the question. And now the shape gained definition. A
short, fat rover, a bit different in design and lower in quality
than Contact approached. It didn't have the most sophisticated
tools, but a camera and enough to analyze rocks. The new rover sped
up when its camera seemed to have noticed Contact.

The entire world lost its breath when they saw the paint on the
rover. A solid green with white symbols for a language unknown,
along with the stamp of a flag for a nation unknown.

The rover approached closer to Contact. When the shock faded
Clarice laughed and the entire room turned to her. “At least we
know there's intelligent life out there. Just not on Mars since
that's where it's looking for us.”